Server apparatus, program, method, and terminal device

ABSTRACT

A server apparatus includes a communication interface, a memory, and a processor configured to execute an instruction command stored in the memory to identify other players located within a predetermined range of a distance from a first terminal device, when the communication interface receives position information detected by the first terminal device held by a first player from the first terminal device, to determine whether a non-player character appears in a virtual space of a game application in response to a number of the identified other players, and to transmit non-player information about a non-player character to the first terminal device when the processor determined that the non-player character appears in the virtual space.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/JP2019/024978, filed on Jun. 24, 2019, which isexpressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a server apparatus, a program, amethod, and a terminal device for executing an application that isadvanced using position information of a player.

2. Related Art

Conventionally, game applications have been known in which items such ascharacters usable in a game are exchangeable between a player andanother player. For example, JP 2017-006663 A discloses a system inwhich a game item purchased by a first user is given to a second userwho is a friend of the first user, and an incentive is provided to thefirst user who has given the game item.

SUMMARY

Therefore, based on the above-described technology, in the presentdisclosure, a server apparatus, program, method, and terminal device forexecuting a new application that cooperates with another player usingposition information of the player according to various embodiments areprovided.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides “a server apparatusincluding: a communication interface configured to receive from terminaldevices held by players, each position information detected by each ofthe terminal devices; a memory configured to store, in addition to apredetermined instruction command, the each position informationreceived in association with a corresponding one of the players; and aprocessor configured to execute the instruction command stored in thememory to identify, when the communication interface receives positioninformation detected by a first terminal device held by a first playerfrom the first terminal device, other players within a predeterminedrange, from the players stored in the memory, based on the positioninformation received, to make determination as to whether to make anon-player character appear in a virtual space based on number of theother players identified, and to transmit information about thenon-player character to the first terminal device, upon determining tomake the non-player character appear”.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides “a program causing acomputer including a communication interface configured to receive fromterminal devices held by players, each position information detected byeach of the terminal devices and a memory configured to store the eachposition information received in association with a corresponding one ofthe players, to function as a processor configured to execute, when thecommunication interface receives position information detected by afirst terminal device held by a first player from the first terminaldevice, processing of identifying other players within a predeterminedrange, from the players stored in the memory, based on the positioninformation received, making determination as to whether to make anon-player character appear in a virtual space based on number of theother players identified, and transmitting information about thenon-player character to the first terminal device, upon determining tomake the non-player character appear”.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides “a method performed in acomputer including a communication interface configured to receive fromterminal devices held by players, each position information detected byeach of the terminal devices and a memory configured to store, inaddition to a predetermined instruction command, the each positioninformation received in association with a corresponding one of theplayers, when a processor executes the instruction command, the methodincluding: receiving, by the communication interface, positioninformation detected by a first terminal device held by a first playerfrom the first terminal device; identifying other players within apredetermined range, from the players stored in the memory, based on theposition information received; making determination as to whether tomake a non-player character appear in a virtual space based on number ofthe other players identified; and transmitting information about thenon-player character to the first terminal device, upon determining tomake the non-player character appear”.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides “a terminal deviceincluding: a display configured to display a virtual space; a sensorconfigured to detect position information about a player; a memoryconfigured to store, in addition to a predetermined instruction command,the position information detected by the sensor; and a processorconfigured to execute the instruction command stored in the memory, todisplay on the display, in accordance with number of other players in apredetermined range identified based on the position information, anyone of a non-player character and a player character of the otherplayers”.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, it ispossible to provide a server apparatus, a program, a method, and aterminal device for executing a new application featuring cooperationwith another player using position information of the player.

The above effect is merely an example for the convenience of descriptionand are not limiting. In addition to or in place of the above effect,any of the effects described in the present disclosure or an effectobvious to those skilled in the art can be obtained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagram schematically illustrating a progress of anapplication according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.FIG. 1B is a diagram schematically illustrating a virtual spacegenerated in an application according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating theconfiguration of a system according to a first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration ofa terminal device according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration ofa server apparatus according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5A is a diagram schematically illustrating a player table stored inthe server apparatus according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 5B is a diagram schematically illustrating a playercharacter table stored in the server apparatus according to the firstembodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5C is a diagram schematicallyillustrating an area table stored in the server apparatus according tothe first embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5D is a diagramschematically illustrating a non-player character table stored in theserver apparatus according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a sequence of processing between theterminal device and the server apparatus according to the firstembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing executed by theserver apparatus according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing executed by theserver apparatus according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing executed by theserver apparatus according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing executed by theterminal device according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 11A is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on adisplay of the terminal device according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 11B is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed onthe display of the terminal device according to the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed onthe display of the terminal device according to the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed onthe display of the terminal device according to the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the same components inthe figures are denoted with the same reference numerals.

Overview of Application Related to the Present Disclosure

An example of an application according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure includes an application in which a player him orherself transfers an item he or she virtually owns to another player,and a parameter value of the item changes in accordance with a distancemoved by the other player in the real world.

Typical examples of such an application include game applications suchas a battle game in which a plurality of characters battle, a blockbreak game, a puzzle game, a role playing game, and a sport game.Hereinafter, an overview of the application according to the presentembodiment will be described by using a battle game as an example.

FIG. 1A is a diagram schematically illustrating a progress of anapplication according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.According to FIG. 1A, first of all, a player character C1, operated bythe player A, is selected by the player A to be virtually transferred toa player B (transfer 1). Next, the player B moves to a certain positionin the real world, while being virtually accompanied by his or herplayer character C2 and the player character C1 transferred (movement1). Then, at the destination of the movement, the player character C1transfers again from the player B to the player C in response to apredetermined event (transfer 2). Next, the player C moves to a certainposition in the real world, while being virtually accompanied by his orher player character C3 and the player character C1 transferred(movement 2). Then, at the destination of the movement, the playercharacter C1 transfers again from the player C to the player D inresponse to a predetermined event (transfer 3). In this case, aselection by the player D causes a virtual battle between thetransferred player character C1 and a player character C4 of the playerD. When the player character C1 loses, the player character C1 cannotkeep staying at the player D as the transfer destination, and transfersto a player E (transfer 4). Then, a selection by the player E causes avirtual battle between the transferred player character C1 and a playercharacter C5 of the player E. When the player character C1 wins, theplayer character C1 stays at the player E as the transfer destination.Next, the player E moves to a certain position in the real world, whilebeing virtually accompanied by his or her player character C5 and theplayer character C1 transferred (movement 3). When a second periodelapses after the first transfer (transfer 1), the transfer ends and thecharacter returns to the original player A.

In the application, the virtual character C1 of the player A canrepeatedly transfer to various players in response to various events. Ata transfer destination, an ability value of the character C1 may bechanged in accordance with the distance (for example, a sum of themovements 1 to 3) moved together with the transfer target player.

In other words, the way the player A sees it, in the above application,his or her player character C1 can “travel” with another player, to bestrengthened in accordance with the distance of the “travel”.

FIG. 1B is a diagram schematically illustrating a virtual spacegenerated in an application according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. According to FIG. 1B, for example, another player 16exists in the periphery of the current location of the player 11 who isthe transfer source. In the application according to the presentdisclosure, each player as a transfer destination is selected fromplayers (for example, the other player 16) located within apredetermined range (for example, an area A1) identified based onposition information about the transfer source player. Therefore, ifthere are more other players around the transfer source player, thereare more options of the transfer source player meaning that there aremore opportunities for the transfer. On the other hand, when there arenot many other players around the transfer source player, there are fewopportunities for transfer, and this may have a negative impact on thefeature of the application.

In the present disclosure, non-player characters (for example,non-player characters 18-1 to 18-3) appear in the virtual spaceaccording to the number of other players located around the player asthe transfer source, so that the opportunities for the transfer can beguaranteed. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 1B, positioninformation about the player 11 that is a transfer source is detected,and the position information is transmitted to a server apparatus. Basedon the position information, the server apparatus identifies the area A1in which the player 11 that is the transfer source is located. Then, theserver apparatus counts the number of other players (for example, theother player 16) located in the identified area A1, and based on thenumber of other players, determines whether to make a non-playercharacter appear. When it is determined, in the server apparatus, tomake the non-player characters (for example, non-player characters 18-1to 18-3) appear, the non-player characters are each displayed on aterminal device as one of the candidate characters of the transferdestination. On the other hand, when it is determined, in the serverapparatus, not to make the non-player character appear, only the otherplayers in the area including the player are displayed on the terminaldevice as the candidate characters of the transfer destination.

In the application described above, “transfer” and/or “virtuallytransfer” is implemented. These terms mean that a character ID of thecharacter that has been stored in association with player identificationinformation about the transfer source player in a player table is storedin association with a player identification information about thetransfer destination player, through processing such as copy or rewrite.In the case where the character is transferred again from the “transferdestination player” to the “new transfer destination player”, thecharacter ID associated with the player identification information aboutthe “transfer destination player” may be completely deleted, or may bekept associated.

Furthermore, “player character” means a virtual character associatedwith player identification information of a certain player. On the otherhand, “non-player character” means a virtual character that is notassociated with the player identification information of the certainplayer at least at the time of appearance. Note that there may bevirtual characters with the same outer appearance/form, and operating asa player character and as a non-player character.

In the present disclosure, a virtual space formed in the application istypically associated with the real space in the real world. Therefore,position information about a player detected in the real space isassociated with a certain position in the virtual space.

First Embodiment

1. Configuration of System 1 According to the First Embodiment of thePresent Disclosure

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating theconfiguration of a system 1 according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure. Referring to FIG. 2, system 1 includes a pluralityof terminal devices 100 including at least a terminal device 100-1 and aterminal device 100-2, and a server apparatus 200 communicably connectedto the terminal devices 100 through a network 300. In the system 1, theserver apparatus 200 and the terminal device 100 execute a programstored in a memory to execute processing of the application according tothe present embodiment. The server apparatus 200 and the terminal device100 communicate with each other as appropriate to transmit and receivevarious types of information (for example, FIGS. 5A to 5D), programs,and the like necessary for the progression of the application.

Although only two terminal devices 100 are illustrated in the example ofFIG. 2, it is a matter of course that three or more terminal devices 100may be included. Also, although the server apparatus 200 is illustratedas a single apparatus, the components and the processing of the serverapparatus 200 may be distributed to and executed in cooperation by aplurality of server apparatuses.

2. Configuration of Terminal Device 100

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration ofthe terminal device 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The terminal device 100 does not necessarily need to includeall of the components illustrated in FIG. 3, and can have aconfiguration in which the components are partially omitted.Furthermore, additional components may also be provided.

The terminal device 100 may be, for example, a portable terminal device,typically a smartphone, capable of performing wireless communications.Yet, the present invention can be suitably applied to devices other thanthis, such as a portable game machine, a feature phone, a portableinformation terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a laptoppersonal computer. In addition, the plurality of terminal devices 100 ofthe system 1 may not necessarily be the same or of the same type. Forexample, the terminal device 100-1 may be a smartphone, and the terminaldevice 100-2 may be a portable game machine.

According to FIG. 3, the terminal device 100 includes: a display 111; aprocessor 112; a sensor 113 including a GPS sensor 114, a gyro sensor115, an acceleration sensor 116, and a geomagnetic sensor 123; acommunication interface 117 including a communication processing circuit118 and an antenna; a memory 119 at least including random access memory(RAM), read only memory (ROM), non-volatile memory (in some cases, ahard disk drive (HDD)), or the like; and an input interface 120including a touch panel 121 and a hard key 122. These components areelectrically connected to each other through control lines and datalines.

The display 111 serves as a display unit that reads out imageinformation stored in the memory 119 in response to an instruction fromthe processor 112, and displays various contents including a virtualspace formed by the application according to the present embodiment (forexample, FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, FIG. 12, and FIG. 13). The display 111includes, for example, a liquid crystal display and an organicelectroluminescence (EL) display.

The input interface 120 includes the touch panel 121, the hard key 122and/or the like, and receives various instructions and inputs from theplayer. The touch panel 121 is disposed so as to cover the display 111,and outputs, to the processor 112, information about positioncoordinates corresponding to image data displayed by the display 111.Known techniques can be used for the touch panel, including resistivefilm, electrostatic capacitance coupling, and ultrasonic surfaceacoustic wave. In the present embodiment, the touch panel 121 detects aswipe operation and/or a tap operation on each item displayed on thedisplay 111 using indicators.

The processor 112 includes a central processing unit (CPU)(microcomputer), and functions as a control unit that controls othercomponents connected thereto, based on various programs stored in thememory 119. Specifically, the processor 112 reads a program forexecuting the application according to the present embodiment or aprogram for executing an OS from the memory 119 and executes theprogram. Also, the processor 112 generates various types of operationinformation based on an output from the input interface 120. In thepresent embodiment, in particular, the processor 112 executes processingof causing the display 111 to display at least one of a non-playercharacter and a player character of another player, in accordance withthe number of other players positioned in a predetermined rangedetermined based on position information detected by the sensor 113;processing of selecting as a transferred character, a player characterdesired by the player, from one or a plurality of player characters inaccordance with an instruction input received on the input interface120; processing of selecting as a transfer destination character, acandidate character desired by the player, from one or a plurality ofcandidate characters in accordance with an instruction input received onthe input interface 120 to be associated with the player characterselected; and processing of causing the display 111 to performdisplaying so that the selected player character moves in accordancewith a movement of the candidate character selected as the transferdestination. The processor 112 may be formed by a single CPU, and mayalso be formed by a plurality of CPUs. Furthermore, other types ofprocessors such as a GPU specialized for image processing may becombined as appropriate.

The memory 119 is formed by ROM, RAM, non-volatile memory, an HDD, andthe like, and functions as a storage unit. The ROM stores, as a program,an instruction for executing an application or an OS according to thepresent embodiment. The RAM is a memory used for writing and readingdata while a program stored in the ROM is being processed by theprocessor 112. The non-volatile memory is a memory to and from whichdata is written and read in response to the execution of the program.The data written thereto is stored even after the execution of theprogram has ended. In the present embodiment, in particular, the memory119 stores a program for causing the processor 112 to execute processingof causing the display 111 to display at least one of a non-playercharacter and a player character of another player, in accordance withthe number of other players positioned in a predetermined rangedetermined based on position information detected by the sensor 113;processing of selecting as a transferred character, a player characterdesired by the player, from one or a plurality of player characters inaccordance with an instruction input received on the input interface120; processing of selecting as a transfer destination character, acandidate character desired by the player, from one or a plurality ofcandidate characters in accordance with an instruction input received onthe input interface 120 to be associated with the player characterselected; and processing of causing the display 111 to performdisplaying so that the selected player character moves in accordancewith a movement of the candidate character selected as the transferdestination. Further, in the memory 119, position information detectedby the sensor 113, information about one or a plurality of playercharacters operable by the player, and the like are stored inassociation with player identification information for identifying theplayer.

The communication interface 117 functions as a communication unit thattransmits/receives information to/from the server apparatus 200 oranother terminal device remotely installed, via the communicationprocessing circuit 118 and the antenna. The communication processingcircuit 118 executes processing for receiving a program for executingthe application according to the present embodiment, various types ofinformation used in the application, and the like from the serverapparatus 200, in accordance with the progress of the application. Inaddition, processing for transmitting a processing result, obtained bythe execution of the application, to the server apparatus 200 isperformed. In the present embodiment, in particular, the positioninformation stored in the memory 119 is transmitted to the serverapparatus 200, and information about one or a plurality of candidatecharacters identified based on the position information is received fromthe server apparatus 200.

The communication processing circuit 118 is processed based on abroadband wireless communication method a typical example of whichincluding Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) method.Alternatively, it may be processed based on a scheme related to narrowband wireless communications, such as a wireless local area network(LAN) or Bluetooth (registered trademark) represented by IEEE 802.11.Alternatively, wired communications may be used instead of or inaddition to wireless communications.

The sensor 113 includes the GPS sensor 114, the gyro sensor 115, theacceleration sensor 116, and the geomagnetic sensor 123. The GPS sensor114 detects the current position of the terminal device 100 bycommunicating with a plurality of satellites. The detected positioninformation is transmitted to the server apparatus 200 via thecommunication circuit under the control of the processor 112. In thepresent embodiment, the sensor 113 detects the current position.However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any currentlocation information such as information about a Wi-Fi access point or abase station of broadband wireless communications can be used.

3. Configuration of Server Apparatus 200

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration ofthe server apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The server apparatus 200 does not necessarily needto include all of the components illustrated in FIG. 4, and can have aconfiguration in which the components are partially omitted.Furthermore, additional components may also be provided.

Referring to FIG. 4, the server apparatus 200 includes a memory 211including RAM, ROM, non-volatile memory, an HDD and the like, aprocessor 212 including a CPU and the like, an output interface 213, anda communication interface 214. These components are electricallyconnected to each other through control lines and data lines.

The memory 211 includes RAM, ROM, non-volatile memory, and an HDD, andfunctions as a storage unit. The memory 211 stores, as a program, aninstruction for executing an application or an OS according to thepresent embodiment. Such programs are loaded and executed by theprocessor 212. Furthermore, the memory 211 stores a player table, aplayer character table, an area table, and a non-player character tableas illustrated in FIGS. 5A to 5D. Further, the memory (the RAM inparticular) is temporarily used for writing and reading data while theprogram is executed by the processor 212. In the present embodiment, inparticular, the memory 211 stores a program causing the processor 212 toexecute: when the communication interface receives the positioninformation detected by the terminal device 100 held by the player fromthe terminal device 100 processing, processing of identifying the otherplayers positioned in a predetermined range based on the receivedposition information, with reference to the player table; processing ofdetermining whether to make a non-player character appear in accordancewith the number of other players identified; when determined to make thenon-player character appear, processing of transmitting to the terminaldevice 100, information about a character to be a candidate of thetransfer destination including the non-player character; when determinednot to make the non-player character appear, processing of transmittinginformation about a player character associated with the other playeridentified, as a candidate character; processing of receiving from theterminal device 100, information about a player character selected fromplayer characters of the player holding the terminal device 100;processing of receiving information related to the candidate characteractually transferred selected from the candidate characters transmitted;processing of associating the candidate character with the playercharacter received; and processing of moving the player character inaccordance with the movement of the received candidate character in thevirtual space.

The processor 212 includes a CPU (microcomputer), and functions as acontrol unit that controls other components connected thereto, based onvarious programs stored in the memory 211. In the present embodiment, inparticular, the processor 212 controls, by referring to various types ofinformation (FIGS. 5A to 5D) stored in the memory 211: when thecommunication interface 214 receives the position information detectedby the terminal device 100 held by the player from the terminal device100 processing, processing of identifying the other players positionedin a predetermined range based on the received position information,with reference to the player table; processing of determining whether tomake a non-player character appear in accordance with the number ofother players identified; when determined to make the non-playercharacter appear, processing of transmitting to the terminal device 100,information about a character to be a candidate of the transferdestination including the non-player character; when determined not tomake the non-player character appear, processing of transmittinginformation about a player character associated with the other playeridentified, as a candidate character; processing of receiving from theterminal device 100, information about a player character selected fromplayer characters of the player holding the terminal device 100;processing of receiving information related to the candidate characteractually transferred selected from the candidate characters transmitted;processing of associating the candidate character with the playercharacter received; and processing of moving the player character inaccordance with the movement of the received candidate character in thevirtual space. The processor 212 may be formed by a single CPU, and maybe also be formed by a plurality of CPUs.

For example, the communication interface 214 executes processing such asmodulation and/or demodulation for transmitting and receiving a program,various types of information, and the like for executing the gameapplication according to the present embodiment, to and from theterminal device 100 through the network 300 or to and from the otherserver apparatus through the network 300. The communication interface214 communicates with each of the terminal devices and other serverapparatuses in accordance with the above-described wirelesscommunication scheme or a known wired communication scheme. In thepresent embodiment, position information of the player in the real worldmay be included as one of the received information pieces. For example,the position information may be any information such as coordinateinformation itself detected by the terminal device 100 held by eachplayer and information related to an area identified from the coordinateinformation detected.

Although not elaborated in the figure, the output interface 213functions as an information input/output unit for inputting/outputtinginformation to/from various external devices such as a printer and adisplay. The output interface 213 can employ a known connectiontechnique, such as a serial port, a parallel port, or USB, as desired.

4. Information Stored in Memory of Server Apparatus 200

FIG. 5A is a diagram schematically illustrating the player table storedin the server apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure. As one example, the player information table isstored in the HDD in the memory 211 of the server apparatus 200.

According to FIG. 5A, each of player name information, levelinformation, movement distance information, player characterinformation, transfer destination information, position information, andarea information is stored in association with the player ID (playeridentification information). The “player ID (player identificationinformation)” is unique information given to each player, and isinformation for identifying each player. The “player name” indicates aname used by each player in the application. The “level” is informationindicating the skill level of each player in executing the application.For example, depending on the parameter value such as the experiencevalue acquired during execution of the application, a level such as abeginner, intermediate, or advanced level is given. Although the levelsare classified according to the parameter values, the parameter valuesmay also be directly used as the levels. The “movement distance” isinformation indicating the distance moved by each player within apredetermined period, based on the received position information. In thepresent embodiment, this information is used for processing of giving areward according to the movement distance of the transfer destinationplayer. The “player character” is one of “items” in the presentembodiment, and indicates one or a plurality of virtual charactersoperable by the player. Here, a unique player character ID (playercharacter identification information) assigned to each player characteris stored as the player character information. The “transfer destinationinformation” indicates the current transfer destination of the playercharacter associated with the player ID. Specifically, since the playercharacter C1 of the player A in FIG. 5A is transferred to the player D,the player character ID (C4) of the player D is stored in associationwith the player character C1. On the other hand, for example, in thecase of a player character C5 that has the player ID “U5” and istransferred to a non-player character, a non-player character ID (N1) isstored in association with the character C5. The information is updatedas appropriate each time a transfer occurs. The “position information”is information indicating the current location of each player. Theinformation is updated as appropriate, with the present positioninformation, detected by each terminal device, received. Further, theinformation is used, for example, when calculating “distanceinformation” about a character.

FIG. 5B is a diagram schematically illustrating the player charactertable stored in the server apparatus 200 according to the firstembodiment of the present disclosure. As one example, the playercharacter table is stored in the HDD in the memory 211 of the serverapparatus 200.

According to FIG. 5B, information is stored in association with theplayer character ID (character identification information) and includesability parameters such as attack power and hit points, number of times,time, total time, and distance. Although not elaborated in the figure,other information can be stored including ability parameters such asdefense power and recovery power of each character, equipment items, andthe like. The “player character ID” is unique information given to eachcharacter, and is information for identifying each character. The“attack power” is one of the ability values, and is a parameter used tocalculate the damage given to the character or the like who will be theopponent at the time of attack by the character. The “hit point” is aparameter that is decremented by a predetermined amount according to adamage received. The hit point of the character being zero means that aunit game is processed as “lose” or that the use of the character isrestricted. The “number of times information” indicates the number oftimes the character has transferred to another player. The value of thisinformation is reset to zero when the transfer ends. The “timeinformation” indicates a period of time elapsed after the character hasbeen associated with the player currently stored as the transferdestination information in FIG. 5A. Thus, each time a new player ID isassociated as transfer destination information, the time information isreset to zero and starts to be counted from zero. The “total timeinformation” indicates a period of time elapsed after the character hasbeen first associated with another player ID. Thus, once the transferends, the total time information is reset to zero, and starts to becounted from zero when a new transfer starts. The “distance information”is calculated based on the current position information about the playerto which the character has been transferred. Specifically, theinformation is calculated based on the current position information(FIG. 5A) measured by the terminal device held by the player who hasperformed the transferring. The distance is accumulated while the playermoves together with the charter transferred thereto. The accumulation ofthe distance information starts when the first transfer is performed andends when the transfer ends. Thus, when the transfer ends after thecharacter has transferred to a plurality of players one by one, the sumof the moving distances of the respective players is stored as thedistance information.

FIG. 5C is a diagram schematically illustrating the area table stored inthe server apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure. As one example, the area table is stored in the HDDin the memory 211 of the server apparatus 200.

According to FIG. 5C, the number-of-players information is stored inassociation with an area ID (area identification information). The “areaID” is unique information given to each area, and is information foridentifying each area. In the present embodiment, each area in thevirtual space is formed in association with the real space in the realworld. For example, each area in the virtual space is generated inassociation with each district in the real space such as municipalityand/or a prefecture. The “number of players” is information foridentifying the number of players (or player characters) located in eacharea. The number of players is counted based on the area information(FIG. 5A) identified based on the position information (FIG. 5A) aboutthe terminal device of each player. In addition, each of the areasforming the virtual space is associated with an area (municipality andprefecture) forming the real space as mentioned above. Therefore, thenumber of players is the number of players located in each area in thereal space, and is also the number of player characters virtuallyarranged in each area of the virtual space corresponding to each area inthe real space.

FIG. 5D is a diagram schematically illustrating the non-player charactertable stored in the server apparatus 200 according to the firstembodiment of the present disclosure. As one example, the non-playercharacter table is stored in the HDD in the memory 211 of the serverapparatus 200.

According to FIG. 5D, movement information such as a destination,movement route, movement time, and the like and appearance countinformation are stored in association with the non-player character ID(identification information). The “non-player character ID” is uniqueinformation given to each non-player character, and is information foridentifying each non-player character. The “movement information” isinformation in which destination information, movement routeinformation, movement time information, and the like about a non-playercharacter identified by each non-player character ID are set. Amongthese, “destination information” is information for identifying an areawhich is a final destination of movement of each non-player character.The “movement route information” is information for identifying amovement route to the destination area. Specifically, the information isfor identifying areas passed through while moving from the appearingarea to the destination area. The “movement time information” isinformation for identifying the time required for moving to the nextarea. For example, the movement information stored includes informationindicating that the area A1 is the appearing area, informationindicating that an area A7 is the destination, information indicatingthat the movement route is “area A1→area A4→area A3→area A7”, themovement time information as “moving to next area once in every 3hours”, and the like. In the present embodiment, when the determinationis made to make a non-player character appear, the movement informationis determined in advance by the server apparatus 200 so as to satisfy apredetermined condition, and the information is transmitted to theterminal device 100 as the movement information. Then, when thenon-player character is selected as the transfer destination on theterminal device 100, the non-player character is displayed as if it isactually moving according to the received movement information. The“appearance count information” is information indicating the number oftimes each non-player character has appeared as a transfer destinationcandidate within a predetermined period. For example, the number oftimes the non-player character has appeared in one day is counted, andthe resultant value is updated to zero each time the date changes.

5. Sequence of Processing Between Terminal Device 100 and ServerApparatus 200

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a sequence of processing between theterminal device 100-1 and the server apparatus 200 according to thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 6illustrates a sequence of processing executed between the terminaldevice 100-1 held by the player (player A in FIG. 1A) that transfers theplayer character and the server apparatus 200.

According to FIG. 6, when the application according to the presentembodiment is activated in the terminal device 100-1 (S11), the playerID is transmitted to the server apparatus 200 (T11). When the serverapparatus 200 receives the player ID, the processor 212 of the serverapparatus 200 performs control to refer to the player table (S12), andtransmits player information corresponding to the player ID (informationin the player table stored in association with the player ID) to theterminal device 100-1 (T12). When the terminal device 100-1 receives theplayer information, the terminal device 100-1 acquires positioninformation from the sensor 113, and transmits the position informationto the server apparatus 200 (T13). Upon receiving the positioninformation, the server apparatus 200 identifies an area in which theterminal device 100-1 is located based on the position information(S14). Next, the server apparatus 200 determines whether to make thenon-player character appear in accordance with the number of otherplayers located in the identified area (S15). Then, when it isdetermined to make the non-player character appear, a lottery fordetermining movement information about the non-player character isperformed (S15). Information (transfer candidate information) about theplayer character and/or the non-player character to be the transfercandidate, and/or the movement information is transmitted to theterminal device 100-1, in accordance with a result of the determinationin S15 (T14). The processor 112 of the terminal device 100-1 displays amap screen including the current position of the player A and thecandidate characters as transfer candidates on the display 111, andselects the candidate character (the player character of the player B inFIG. 1A) for transferring the player character C1 of the player A inaccordance with an instruction input by the player A (S16). Then, theprocessor 112 of the terminal device 100-1 transmits information aboutthe selected candidate character to the server apparatus 200 as thetransfer information (T15).

The server apparatus 200 that has received the information thustransmitted stores information about the transfer destination,identified by the received transfer information, in the player table inan updating manner (S17). Specifically, as illustrated in the playertable, the player character ID or the non-player character ID foridentifying the candidate character of the transfer destination isstored in association with the player character C1 of the player A.Then, when transfer to any of the player characters occurs, one of theprocesses related to transfer 2 to transfer 4 is performed between eachof the terminal devices including the terminal device 100-1 and theserver apparatus 200 as illustrated in FIG. 1A (S18). Then, processingis executed to end the transfer in accordance with the elapse of thetotal time information stored in FIG. 5B (S19). When transferring to anon-player character occurs, processing based on predetermined movementinformation is executed between the server apparatus 200 and theterminal device 100-1 (S18), and then, the transfer is terminated (S19).After the transfer has been terminated, the player A is given a rewardaccording to the distance traveled during that time. Transfer resultinformation including information about the benefit and the like istransmitted to the terminal device 100-1 (T16). The processor 112 of theterminal device 100-1 executes processing of displaying the receivedtransfer result information (S20).

6. Flow of Processing Executed by Server Apparatus 200 ProcessingRelated to Determining Whether to Make Non-Player Character Appear

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing executed by theserver apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Specifically, a flow of processing is illustrated in whichthe processor 212 of the server apparatus 200 reads and executes theprogram stored in the memory 211, in a period between the reception ofthe position information from the terminal device 100-1 and transmissionof the transfer candidate information including information about thecandidate character as the transfer candidate to the terminal device100-1 in the sequence of the processing illustrated in FIG. 6. In thefollowing, processing executed with the terminal device 100-1 of theplayer A illustrated in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 5A, and the like will bedescribed.

Referring to FIG. 7, the processing starts when the position informationdetected by any of the terminal devices 100 including the terminaldevice 100-1 is received from the terminal device 100 (S101). Uponreceiving the position information, the processor 212 executesprocessing to store the position information in association with theplayer ID in the player table (FIG. 5A). Then, the processor 212identifies, based on the received position information, the area A1,defined in advance in the real space in the real world, where the playeris located or the area A1 in the virtual space associated with the area(S102).

Then, the processor 212 executes processing for determining whether tomake the non-player character appear. Specifically, the number of otherplayers located in the identified area A1 is identified based on eachposition information stored in the area table (FIG. 5C) (S103).Furthermore, the processor 212 refers to the player table (FIG. 5A) andidentifies the level (advanced) of the player A based on the player IDidentifying the player A received together with the position information(S104). Further, the processor 212 performs a random number lottery, andselects a coefficient applied to the number of other players identifiedand/or the level of the player A (S105). Then, using the respectivevalues obtained in S103 to S105, calculation of an appearancecoefficient for determining whether or not to make the non-playercharacter appear is performed (S106).

The appearance coefficient is calculated, for example, by solving thefollowing formula:[Math. 1]Appearance coefficient=N*L*R.   [Formula I]

N: a coefficient according to the number of other players located in theidentified area;

L: a coefficient according to the level of the identified player; and

R: a coefficient according to the random number extracted.

The coefficient according to the number of other players located in theidentified area is, for example, “2.0” if the number of other players is1 to 10, “1.3” if the number is 11 to 50, and “1.0” if the number is 51or more. Thus, a coefficient set in advance in accordance with thenumber of people is used. Moreover, the coefficient according to thelevel of the player, for example, is “1.5” for the beginner level, “1.2”for the intermediate level, and “1.0” for the advanced level. Thus, thecoefficient set in advance in accordance with the level of the player isused. Also, the coefficient according to the extracted random number is“1.5” if the extracted random number using the random number counterwith the number from 0 to N is 0 to 10, “1.3” if the number is 11 to 50,and is “1.0” if the number is 51 to N. Thus, the coefficient set inadvance in accordance with the random number is used.

The above formula is merely an example, and any formula may be used aslong as processing according to the number of players is executed.Furthermore, although not particularly described in the above-mentionedformula, for example, a coefficient related to the distance moved, inthe real space in the real world, by the other player in the identifiedarea in the predetermined period (for example, the previous day) may befurther used. In the present embodiment, a reward according to thedistance moved to another player is given. However, if a record ofmovement of the other player who is a transfer destination candidate ispoor, the transfer is less likely to result in the reward. Therefore, itis possible to provide a relief for a situation where there are onlyother players with a poor moving record, by taking the record of themovement of the other player in a predetermined period intoconsideration.

The processor 212 determines whether the calculated appearancecoefficient exceeds a predetermined value (S107). If the coefficientdoes not exceed the predetermined value, it means that a sufficientnumber of other players as transfer destination candidates exist in thearea A1 including the player A. Therefore, in this case, the processor212 refers to the player table (FIG. 5A) and identifies other playerslocated in the area A1 including the player A (S112). Then, withreference to the player table (FIG. 5A), information about the playercharacter of the identified other player is transmitted to the terminaldevice 100-1 as transfer candidate information (S113).

On the other hand, if the coefficient exceeds the predetermined value,it means that there may not be a sufficient number of other players astransfer destination candidates in the area A1 including the player A.Therefore, the processor 212 makes the non-player character appear inthe area A1 and provides the non-player character to the player A as atransfer destination candidate character. The non-player character toappear may be selected by lottery from the virtual characters stored inthe non-player character table (FIG. 5D), or may be determined inaccordance with the calculated appearance coefficient.

In the present embodiment, the appearances count of the non-playercharacter that can be the transfer destination candidate character isdetermined in advance. For example, the processor 212 refers to thenon-player character table (FIG. 5D), and checks whether the appearancecount of the non-player character to appear as a transfer destinationcandidate character in a predetermined period exceeds a predeterminedvalue (for example, four times a day) (S108). For example, if the numberof times exceeds the predetermined value, it may lead to too muchrelief. Thus, the identification of the other player (S112) andtransmission of the information about the player character of the otherplayer identified (S113) are performed without making the non-playercharacter appear.

On the other hand, when the number of times does not exceed thepredetermined value, the processor 212 determines a non-player characterto appear as a candidate character from the virtual characters stored inFIG. 5D (S109). Next, the processor 212 determines movement information(FIG. 5D) about the determined non-player character, and stores theinformation in the non-player character table illustrated in FIG. 5D inan updating manner (determination of movement information will bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 8). Then, the processor 212transmits the information about the determined non-player character andthe stored movement information to the terminal device 100-1 (S111).Although not elaborated in the figure, the processor 212 also stores theappearance count in the non-player character table in an updatingmanner. The appearance count is information managed to set a limit onthe appearance count in a predetermined period. Therefore, the count isreset each time the predetermined period elapses.

Processing Related to Determination of Movement Information

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing executed by theserver apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Specifically, a flow of processing of periodically readingand executing a program, stored in the memory 211, by the processor 212of the server apparatus 200 in the step of determining the movementinformation of the non-player character described as S110 in FIG. 7 willbe described.

According to FIG. 8, when it is determined to make the non-playercharacter appear in S109 of FIG. 7, the processor 212 identifies an areawhere the non-player character appears, based on the positioninformation about the player 11 received in advance (S201). Next, theprocessor 212 narrows down a plurality of areas to candidate areas ofthe destination, based on the distance condition (S202). Specifically,the processor 212 narrows down a plurality of areas to areas within apredetermined distance from the area identified in S201 in the realspace. In addition, it is also possible to uniformly set thepredetermined distance to a fixed value regardless of which area isidentified in S201. However, in this case, the number of areas narroweddown largely depends on the size of the area identified in S201.Therefore, it is also possible to set the predetermined distance to bedifferent among the areas.

Next, the processor 212 further narrows down the candidate areasnarrowed down in S202 based on the number of areas condition (S203).Specifically, the processor 212 narrows down the plurality of areas topredetermined number of areas (four, for example) or less from the areaidentified in S201, or to areas involving the number of times theinter-area boundary is crossed (for example “four times”) is within apredetermined range. As in the case of the distance condition of S202,the same range may be uniquely set as the condition regardless of whicharea is the area identified in S201, or the range condition may be setto be different among the areas.

Next, the processor 212 selects the destination from the destinationcandidate areas extracted by narrowing down in S202 and S203 (S204). Theselection may be made based on a predetermined criterion, such as thefarthest area in the candidates, the closest area in the candidates, andthe like. Furthermore, the selection from the candidates may be made byrandom lottery. Furthermore, the selection may be made based on acombination of these.

When the destination area is selected, the processor 212 selects amovement route from the area specified in S201 to the destination area(S205). The movement route can be determined by a scheme appropriatelyselected from the cumulative movement distance, the number of areas orthe number of times of crossing the inter-area boundaries, randomlottery, and a combination of these. Then, the processor 212 associatesthe information about the destination selected in S204 and the movementroute selected in S205 with the non-player character ID of thenon-player character determined in S109 of FIG. 7, and stores theresultant information in the non-player character table in an updatingmanner. Then, the processing returns to S111 in FIG. 7. Although notelaborated in the figure, the non-player character is set to move to thenext area once in every predetermined period of time (for example, threehours) in accordance with the selected movement route. This time may bea fixed time regardless of the destination area, or may be set inaccordance with the number of areas or the number of times of crossingthe inter-area boundaries. The set time is stored as movement timeinformation in the non-player character table.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing executed by theserver apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Specifically, a flow of processing of periodically readingand executing a program, stored in the memory 211, by the processor 212of the server apparatus 200 in the step terminating the transfer in thesequence of processing illustrated in FIG. 6 is illustrated. Inparticular, processing executed when the player character C5 of theplayer E has transferred to the non-player character N1 will bedescribed below.

In the present embodiment, when the determination is made to make anon-player character appear, the movement information is determined inadvance by the server apparatus 200 so as to satisfy a predeterminedcondition, and the information is transmitted to the terminal device 100as the movement information. Then, when the non-player character isselected as the transfer destination on the terminal device 100, thenon-player character is controlled to move in accordance with thereceived movement information. At this time, as in the case of thetransfer to the player character as illustrated in FIG. 1A, thetransferring player character C5 can return to the player E when apredetermined period of time elapses or when an instruction input by theplayer E is detected while the character is moving together with thenon-player character (thus, at a desired timing under the request fromthe player E). When the character returns due to the elapse of time, themovement distance and the number of times of movement in the real spaceare calculated in accordance with the movement route selected in S205 inFIG. 8, and the distance information and the number of times of movementinformation in the player character table are updated. On the otherhand, when the character returns due to the detection of the instructioninput by the player E, the distance and the number of times of movementon the movement route selected in S205 until the instruction input arecalculated, and the distance information and the number of times ofmovement information in the player character table are updated. Then,referring to FIG. 9, the processor 212 first refers to the playercharacter table to read information about the cumulative distance movedby the player character C5, transferred to the non-player character N1,together with the non-player character N1. Specifically, the processor212 reads distance information in the player character table (S301).Next, processing of changing the ability value of the player characterC5 is executed as a reward given in accordance with the cumulativedistance read (S302).

For example, a distance on the virtual space associated with the realspace is converted into the distance in the real space, and the movementof the player character C5 while being associated with the non-playercharacter N1, that is, while being transferred to the non-playercharacter N1 is identified to be 10 km (FIG. 5B). Therefore, theprocessor 212 changes each ability value of the character according tothe following formula prepared in advance. The following formula ismerely an example, and the ability value may be increased or decreasedaccording to the movement distance, or another formula may be used:Attack power=attack power before transfer+distance×1.5; andHit point=hit point before transfer+distance×0.5.

The processor 212 updates the ability value of the player character C5in the player character table (FIG. 5B) with the ability value after thechange calculated as above (S303). Furthermore, due to the terminationof the transfer to the non-player character N1, the processor 212updates the player table (FIG. 5A) to delete the identificationinformation about the non-player character N1 from the transferdestination information (FIG. 5A) stored in association with the playercharacter C5 and cancel the association (S304). Next, the processor 212transmits transfer result information including the updated abilityvalue and information about movement to the terminal device 100 held bythe player E (S305), and ends the series of processing.

7. Flow of Processing Executed by Terminal Device 100

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a flow of processing executed by theterminal device 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Specifically, a flow of processing is illustrated in whichthe processor 112 of the terminal device 100 periodically reads andexecutes the program stored in the memory 119, in each step between theacquisition of the position information in the terminal device 100-1 anddisplaying of the transfer result information in the sequence of theprocessing illustrated in FIG. 6. In particular, processing executedwhen the player character C1 of the player A has transferred to any ofthe candidate characters will be described below.

According to FIG. 10, the processor 112 of the terminal device 100acquires position information about the terminal device 100 detected bythe sensor 113 (S401). Then, the processor 112 stores the acquiredposition information in the memory 119 in association with the player IDof the player A, and transmits the position information stored in thememory 119 together with the player ID to the server apparatus 200(S402).

Next, the processor 112 determines whether information about a candidatecharacter to be a transfer candidate of the player character C1(transfer candidate information) and/or movement information is receivedfrom the server apparatus 200 (S403). According to the number of otherplayers located in the area A1 identified based on the transmittedposition information, the transfer character as the transfer candidatemay include any of information about player characters of other playersand information about non-player characters. Specifically, theappearance coefficient is calculated while taking into consideration thecoefficient (N) according to the number of other players located in thearea A1, the coefficient (L) according to the level of the player A, thecoefficient according to the extracted random number, and the like.Then, when the appearance coefficient exceeds the predetermined value,the number of other players suitable as transfer destinations around theplayer A is likely to be small. Thus, as a relief for this situation, anon-player character appears in the area A1 in the virtual space.Therefore, in this case, the transfer candidate information at leastincludes information about the non-player character. On the other hand,when the appearance coefficient does not exceed the predetermined value,the number of other players suitable as transfer destinations around theplayer A is likely to be small. Thus, the non-player character does notneed to appear. Therefore, in this case, the transfer candidateinformation only includes information about the player characters of theother players.

Upon receiving the transfer candidate information from the serverapparatus 200, the processor 112 puts a candidate character as atransfer destination candidate in the virtual space and controls thedisplay 111 to display the virtual space (S404).

Here, FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating examples of screensdisplayed on the display 111 of the terminal device 100 according to thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 11Aillustrates an example of a screen displayed when the transfer candidateinformation only includes player characters of other players. Accordingto FIG. 11A, display 11 indicating the position of the player A isarranged in the virtual space 10 in association with the currentlocation of the player A in the real space. Furthermore, among the otherplayers located in the area A1 identified based on the positioninformation about the player A, player characters 16-1 to 16-4 of theother players located within a range of a distance n from the currentlocation of the player A are arranged in a virtual space 10 inassociation with coordinates in the real space. Since the non-playercharacter is not included in the transfer candidate information, thenon-player character is not arranged in the virtual space 10.

On the other hand, FIG. 11B illustrates an example of a screen displayedwhen the transfer candidate information at least includes informationabout a non-player character. According to FIG. 11B, the display 11indicating the position of the player A is arranged in the virtual space10 in association with the current location of the player A in the realspace. Furthermore, among the other players located in the area A1identified based on the position information about the player A, aplayer character 16 of another player located within a range of adistance n from the current location of the player A is arranged in avirtual space 10 in association with coordinates in the real space.Here, in the example illustrated in FIG. 11B, since only the playercorresponding to the player character 16 exists as the other playerlocated in the area A1, non-player characters 18-1 to 18-3 appear andare arranged in the virtual space 10.

Referring back to FIG. 10, the processor 112 selects a player characterto be transferred to the candidate character from one or a plurality ofplayer characters stored in the memory 119 as his or her playercharacters, in accordance with an instruction input from the player onthe input interface 120 (S405). The processor 112 selects a candidatecharacter to be the transfer destination of the player characterselected in S405 from candidate characters included in the transferdestination information received, in accordance with an instructioninput from the player on the input interface 120 (S406). The processor112 performs control to transmit the transfer information to the serverapparatus 200. The transfer information includes information foridentifying the player character selected and information foridentifying the candidate character to be the transfer destination(S407).

Reference is again made to FIGS. 11a and 11b . According to FIG. 11A,player characters 15 a and 15 b associated with the player A aredisplayed on a player character tray 15. Then, by detecting a tapoperation input on the player character 15 a by the player A with theinput interface 120 (for example, the touch panel 121), the playercharacter to be transferred is selected. Then, when a drag operation bythe player A is detected with the input interface 120, a candidatecharacter to be the destination of the transferring is selected from theplurality of candidate characters 16-1 to 16-4 displayed as the transferdestinations.

According to FIG. 11B, the player characters 15 a and 15 b associatedwith the player A are displayed on the player character tray 15. Then,by detecting a tap operation input on the player character 15 a by theplayer A with the input interface 120 (for example, the touch panel121), the player character to be transferred is selected. Then, when adrag operation by the player A is detected with the input interface 120,a candidate character to be the destination of the transferring isselected from the plurality of candidate characters 16 and 18-1 to 18-3displayed as the transfer destinations.

Referring back to FIG. 10, the processor 112 determines whether thetransition result information has been received from the serverapparatus 200 (S408), and the processor 112 performs control so that acontent corresponding to the received transfer result information isdisplayed on the display 111 (S409). Then, the processor 112 ends theseries of processing.

Here, FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayedon the display 111 of the terminal device 100 according to the firstembodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 12 illustratesinformation indicating a history of movement by the player character C1,included in the received transfer result information. According to FIG.12, the player character C1 is associated with the non-player characterN2, that is, transferred so as to move through areas A1, A4, A3, and A7in this order in accordance with the movement of the non-playercharacter N2 in the virtual space 10. When the transfer destination is anon-player character, the movement destination is selected while takinga predetermined condition into consideration. For example, by referringto the position information of the player possessing the playercharacter C1 associated with the non-player character N2, a movementdestination is selected from areas that are within a predetermineddistance from the area including the player and that of a predeterminedquantity or less or involve a predetermined number of times of movingbetween areas or less. In addition to these conditions, the number ofother players in the area on the virtual space to be the movementdestination can be taken into consideration for the selection of themovement destination area. For example, in a case that movement to anarea with a large number of other players is prioritized, with themovement to an area with a large number of other players is made whentransfer to a new candidate character other than the non-playercharacter N1 is made in the destination of the movement, a playercharacter associated with the other player can be added as a candidatecharacter.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed onthe display 111 of the terminal device 100 according to the firstembodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 13 illustratesinformation indicating a reward given in accordance with a movement bythe player character C1, included in the received transfer resultinformation. According to FIG. 13, a display 17 indicating that thetransfer has ended is provided together with the entire image of theplayer character C1 that is the player character of the player A. Thedisplay being provided includes information about the total movementdistance of the player character C1 moving on the virtual space togetherwith the non-player character N2. Furthermore, the information aboutability values of the player character C1 is displayed that includesability values after the change as well as their incremented amounts.

The processing related to the transfer to the non-player character, thatis, processing related to the association to the non-player character,described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7 to 10, is typically executedin the transfer 1 illustrated in FIG. 1A. However, it is a matter ofcourse that the present invention is not limited to this, and theprocessing related to the transfer to the non-player character, that is,processing related to the association to the non-player character may beapplied to any of the transfers 2 to 4.

As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to executea new application that cooperates with another player, by using theposition information of the player. Specifically, in an application thatprogresses using player characters of other players, when the number ofother player characters is small, the non-player character appears inthe virtual space as a relief. Thus, the application can be executedwithout spoiling the feature of the game.

Other Embodiments

In the first embodiment, an area (for example, a municipality, aprefecture, and the like) on the real space where the player ispositioned is identified from the position information about the player,and determination of whether to make a non-player character appear inthe virtual space is made by using the number of other players includedin the area identified. However, the present invention is not limited tothis, and the number of other players included within a predetermineddistance from the position of the player in the real space may be usedfor example.

Also, in the first embodiment, an example of an application thatprogresses by transferring the player character of the player has beendescribed. However, the application according to the present disclosuremay be applied to any application that progresses together with otherplayers positioned in the periphery by using position information, suchas an application involving exchange of an item with another player, anapplication involving a battle with another player, an applicationinvolving communication with the other players, for example.Specifically, for example, in an application in which an incentive canbe obtained by giving virtual items owned by a player to other playerslocated in the periphery, if there are few other players to give theitem, there will be less opportunity to obtain an incentive. To providea relief for this decreased opportunity, a non-player character appearson the virtual space. Thus, an incentive can be given to the playerexecuting processing of giving a virtual item to the non-playercharacter.

Further, in the first embodiment, the “player character” is described asan example of the “item” transferred to another player, but the item isnot limited to the “character” item only. For example, equipment itemsof characters, various advertisement contents, pay video contents, andthe like, displayed by game applications, SNS applications, and so oncan also be used as “items”.

In the first embodiment, the movement destination, movement route,movement time, and the like of the non-player character are determinedin advance by the server apparatus 200 by a method such as lottery whenthe movement of the non-player character is determined. However, thepresent invention is not limited to this, and information such as themovement destination may be determined after the non-player characterhas been selected by the terminal device 100 as the transferdestination. In addition, the information may be determined by theterminal device 100 or the server apparatus 200, through a method suchas extraction each time a predetermined condition is satisfied. Thecondition includes each time inter-area movement occurs, each time apredetermined period of time elapses, and each time a movement by apredetermined distance occurs.

As described above, in these embodiments, it is possible to execute anew application that cooperates with another player, by using theposition information of the player as in the first embodiment.Specifically, in an application that progresses using player charactersof other players, when the number of other player characters is small,the non-player character appears in the virtual space as a relief. Thus,the application can be executed without spoiling the feature of thegame.

It is also possible to configure the system by appropriately combiningor replacing the elements described in the embodiments.

The processing and procedures described in this specification can beimplemented not only by those explicitly described in the embodiments,but also by software, hardware, or a combination thereof. Specifically,the processing and procedures described in this specification arerealized by implementing a logic corresponding to the processing on amedium such as an integrated circuit, volatile memory, non-volatilememory, magnetic disk, or an optical storage. The processing andprocedures described in this specification can be implemented with theprocessing/procedure installed as a computer program and executed byvarious computers including the terminal device and the serverapparatus.

Even though the processing and procedures described herein may bedescribed as being performed by a single device, software, component, ormodule, such processing or procedures may be executed by a plurality ofdevices, a plurality of software elements, a plurality of componentsand/or a plurality of modules. Even though various pieces of informationdescribed in this specification are described as being stored in asingle memory or storage unit, such information may be dispersed to bestored in a plurality of memories in a single device or in a pluralityof memories distributed among a plurality of devices. Furthermore, thesoftware and hardware elements described herein may be implemented byintegrating them into fewer components or breaking them down into morecomponents.

The server apparatus, program, method, and terminal device being thusdescribed, it will be apparent that the same may be varied in many ways.Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spiritand scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art are intended to be includedwithin the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A server apparatus comprising: a communicationinterface configured to receive a plurality of position information of aplurality of terminal devices held by a plurality of players in a realworld, each position information corresponding to a location in the realworld where each of the plurality of terminal devices held by each ofthe plurality of players is located, the plurality of terminal devicesincluding a first terminal device held by a first player of theplurality of players and other terminal devices held by other players ofthe plurality of players; a memory configured to store computer readableinstructions and the plurality of position information received inassociation with the plurality of players; and a processor configured toexecute the computer readable instructions so as to: identify the otherplayers holding the other terminal devices that are located within apredetermined distance from the first terminal device in the real worldin response to the received position information of the first terminaldevice and the other terminal devices via the communication interface;cause a first player character to appear in a virtual space of a gameapplication executed in the first terminal device in response to thereceived position information of the first terminal device via thecommunication interface, the first player character being associatedwith the first player, the first player character moving in the virtualspace as the first player moves in the real world; determine whether anyof other player characters appear in the virtual space of the gameapplication executed in the first terminal device in response to thereceived position information of the other terminal devices via thecommunication interface, the other player characters being associatedwith the other players, the other player characters moving in thevirtual space as the other players move in the real world; determinewhether a non-player character appears in the virtual space of the gameapplication executed in the first terminal device in response to anumber of the identified other players, the non-player character beingmovable in the virtual space, the movement of the non-player characterhaving no direct relationship with the movement of the first player andthe other players in the real world; and transmit non-player characterinformation corresponding to the non-player character to the firstterminal device, when the processor determined that the non-playercharacter appears in the virtual space.
 2. The server apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the virtual space includes a plurality ofareas associated with a real space in the real world.
 3. The serverapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor determines whetherthe non-player character appears in the virtual space in response to alevel of the first player character in the game application executed inthe first terminal device.
 4. The server apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the processor determines whether the non-player characterappears in the virtual space of the game application executed in thefirst terminal device in response to a distance moved by one of theother players in the real world during a predetermined period of time.5. The server apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processordetermines whether the non-player character appears in the virtual spaceof the game application executed in the first terminal device inresponse to a number of times of the appearance of the non-playercharacter within a predetermined period of time in the virtual space ofthe game application executed in the first terminal device.
 6. Theserver apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores firstplayer character information about the first player character associatedwith the first player and other player character information about theother player characters associated with the other players, and theprocessor is configured to transmit at least one of the non-playercharacter information about the non-player character and the otherplayer character information about the other player characters to thefirst terminal device in response to the determination in which theprocessor determines whether the non-player character appears in thevirtual space in response to the number of the identified other playersthat are located within the predetermined distance from the first playerin the real world.
 7. The server apparatus according to claim 6,wherein, when the processor receives a desired character among thenon-player character and the other player characters from the firstterminal device, the processor is configured to associate the receiveddesired character with the first player character.
 8. The serverapparatus according to claim 7, wherein the processor is configured togive a reward to the first player in response to a movement distance bythe first player character in the virtual space, and the first playercharacter moves in accordance with a movement of the associated desiredcharacter in the virtual space.
 9. A computer program product embodyingcomputer readable instructions stored on a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium for causing a computer to execute aprocess by a processor so as to perform the steps of: receiving aplurality of position information of a plurality of terminal devicesheld by a plurality of players in a real world, each positioninformation corresponding to a location in the real world where each ofthe plurality of terminal devices held by each of the plurality ofplayers is located, the plurality of terminal devices including a firstterminal device held by a first player of the plurality of players andother terminal devices held by other players of the plurality ofplayers; identifying the other players holding the other terminaldevices that are located within a predetermined distance from the firstterminal device in the real world in response to the received positioninformation of the first terminal device and the other terminal devicesvia the communication interface; causing a first player character toappear in a virtual space of a game application executed in the firstterminal device in response to the received position information of thefirst terminal device via the communication interface, the first playercharacter being associated with the first player, the first playercharacter moving in the virtual space as the first player moves in thereal world; determining whether any of other player characters appear inthe virtual space of the game application executed in the first terminaldevice in response to the received position information of the otherterminal devices via the communication interface, the other playercharacters being associated with the other players, the other playercharacters moving in the virtual space as the other players move in thereal world; determining whether a non-player character appears in thevirtual space of the game application executed in the first terminaldevice in response to a number of the identified other players, thenon-player character being movable in the virtual space, the movement ofthe non-player character having no direct relationship with the movementof the first player and the other players in the real world; andtransmitting non-player character information corresponding to thenon-player character to the first terminal device, when the processordetermined that the non-player character appears in the virtual space.10. A method for causing a processor to execute a process, the methodcomprising executing on the processor the steps of: receiving aplurality of position information of a plurality of terminal devicesheld by a plurality of players in a real world, each positioninformation corresponding to a location in the real world where each ofthe plurality of terminal devices held by each of the plurality ofplayers is located, the plurality of terminal devices including a firstterminal device held by a first player of the plurality of players andother terminal devices held by other players of the plurality ofplayers; identifying the other players holding the other terminaldevices that are located within a predetermined distance from the firstterminal device in the real world in response to the received positioninformation of the first terminal device and the other terminal devicesvia the communication interface; causing a first player character toappear in a virtual space of a game application executed in the firstterminal device in response to the received position information of thefirst terminal device via the communication interface, the first playercharacter being associated with the first player, the first playercharacter moving in the virtual space as the first player moves in thereal world; determining whether any of other player characters appear inthe virtual space of the game application executed in the first terminaldevice in response to the received position information of the otherterminal devices via the communication interface, the other playercharacters being associated with the other players, the other playercharacters moving in the virtual space as the other players move in thereal world; determining whether a non-player character appears in thevirtual space of the game application executed in the first terminaldevice in response to a number of the identified other players, thenon-player character being movable in the virtual space, the movement ofthe non-player character having no direct relationship with the movementof the first player and the other players in the real world; andtransmitting non-player character information corresponding to thenon-player character to the first terminal device, when the processordetermined that the non-player character appears in the virtual space.11. A terminal device comprising: a display configured to display avirtual space of a game application; a sensor configured to detectposition information about a first position of the terminal device heldby a first player in a real world; a memory configured to store computerreadable instructions and the position information detected by thesensor; and a processor configured to execute the computer readableinstructions so as to: send the detected position informationcorresponding to the first position to a server apparatus, the serverapparatus being configured to receive other position informationcorresponding to other terminal devices held by other players so as toidentify the other terminal devices that are located within apredetermined distance from the terminal device held by the first playerin the real world; display a first player character in the virtual spaceof the game application on the display in response to the detectedposition information corresponding to the first position, the firstplayer character being associated with the first player, the firstplayer character moving in the virtual space as the first player movesin the real world; and display at least one of a non-player characterand another player character of the other players on the display inresponse to a number of the other players holding the other terminaldevices that are located within the predetermined distance from thefirst position corresponding to the detected position information of theterminal device held by the first player, the non-player character beingmovable in the virtual space, the movement of the non-player characterhaving no direct relationship with the movement of the first player andthe other players in the real world.